Industry groups are pushing Canada’s government to engage diplomatically before tariffs decimate seafood companies
China recently announced 25 percent tariffs on Canadian seafood species – set to go into effect on 20 March – and leaders in the industry are anticipating a huge impact for multiple species.
China announced the tariffs on 8 March, and said they are in response to Canada’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products. When those tariffs start, the industry will struggle to cope, Fisheries Council of Canda Board Chair Alberto Wareham told SeafoodSource.
“For some fisheries devastation is the word,” Wareham said.
Certain fisheries in Canada are almost entirely dependent on the Chinese market, and can’t change over to a new one easily, he said. One example Wareham offered was geoduck, where 95 percent of the product coming out from the province of British Columbia goes to China.
“You can’t pivot away from 95 percent,” he said.
Other industries already pivoted toward China after other markets were blocked. Wareham said the Canadian coldwater shrimp fishery on the east coast of the country was once mainly shipping its product to Russia, but the industry lost that market as Canada banned Russian seafood and sanctioned Russian tycoons...
